


Blight to Breach: Examining the Effects of the Mage-Templar War

by rapunzariccia



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 10:26:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4742822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rapunzariccia/pseuds/rapunzariccia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the Mage-Templar war finally dealt with thanks to the Inquisition, one of Thedas' many historians goes in search of answers. First and foremost: was it worth it?</p><p>Published in 9:44 by the hitherto unknown Nevarran scholar, Ms. Rapun Zariccía.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blight to Breach: Examining the Effects of the Mage-Templar War

Extracted from _Blight to Breach: Examining the Effects of the Mage-Templar War_

 

pp. 152 _Chapter Five: A Call To Arms_

 […] many claim that the war was started by a single mage, it is clear to all sharp-eyed historians that there could have been no individual capable of causing every Circle in both Fereldan and Orlais to crumble the way they did. Though the finer details are kept locked away, the Chantry has admitted its guilt in part due to a spat with the Seekers of Truth, but most everyone is content to lay blame on the infamous apostate Anders of Kirkwall. No matter how many men were involved with the war's beginning, his involvement is known best of all, and rightfully so. Complete figures of the innocents lost in the Chantry explosion of 9:40 have never been confirmed, and depending on a location's views on the plight of mages, the death toll ranges from a handful to upwards of a hundred people.

In the author's travels, they have found people discussing excitedly the amount of lives lost that day, but few mention the three heads of the city state specifically. Following a brutal Qunari massacre, Kirkwall was left officially leaderless, and the position of viscount remained unfilled. Knight-Commander Meredith, now more informally known as the first true victim of red lyrium, was guilty of blocking any and all attempts to fill the viscount's boots, preferring to run the city herself with her templars by her side, despite the best efforts of the city guard.

The following is a log of a conversation between the author and ~~Captain~~ Admiral Isabela in a tavern in Tantervale, 9:43:

 _The Author:_ You were in Kirkwall during the initial stages of the mages' rebellion, correct?  
_Admiral Isabela:_ Oh _, goodie_ , I'd _missed_ talking about that mess.  
_The Author:_ Ser Tethras' story mentioned that you were friends with the Guard's Captain...  
_Admiral Isabela:_ How is the big girl? Still in charge?  
_The Author:_ Captain Aveline still remains in Kirkwall, yes. Surely between her and the presence of the Champion, you could have persuaded Meredith to-  
_Admiral Isabela:_ [ _sighs_ ] Look, sweet thing, the whole Anders fiasco was just that – a fiasco, I mean – but something like it would have happened eventually.  
_The Author:_ Someone else would have blown up the Chantry?  
_Admiral Isabela_ : The way the mages fought after everything? Can't say I'd be surprised, now. Meredith was in the wrong, but that's not to say everyone else was in the right. And no, there was nothing we could do. Waltz into the Gallows and demand something better? … [ _laughs_ ] Actually, we _did_ do that once or twice.

 A similar question posed to the Guard Captain herself yielded the following response:

 _Captain Aveline_ : If your business is not immediate, I'm going to have to ask you to leave.

As neither the Knight-Commander, First Enchanter or Grand Cleric are available for questioning themselves, the task of uncovering the truth falls to the author and all other historians who are dedicated to answers. Other members of the Champion's party have either disappeared or want nothing to do with revisiting obviously painful memories. The Champion themselves has always been notoriously difficult to locate for as long as living memory, a fact that rings true even now – from wandering Ferelden with their apostate family before the Blight to time spent helping the Inquisition,

 pp. 74 _Chapter Two: The Champion's Tale_

With the wildly popular _Tale of the Champion_ suffering from (amongst other things) a flawed descriptive technique, one cannot take the best piece of evidence from this time at face value. However, there is little else to rely on, and with Ser Tethras unwilling to offer his opinion to the author, it still serves as the best insight we have to Kirkwall in the years leading up to the rebellion. If nothing else, it offers us a good starting point to begin our own investigation to a great deal of things that have otherwise been overlooked. I bring this up to discuss the appearance of the apostate Anders, of whom there is shockingly little information. Despite the careful investigations the author has undertaken in researching this work, the most I could find is already common knowledge thanks to the _Tale of the Champion_. An escapee from the Fereldan Circle of Magi and a runaway Grey Warden, Anders was active in Kirkwall before Hawke ever became a person of note. Working as an underground healer, he

 pp. 75 _The Champion's Tale_

 [an illustration, lifted from the final pages of the Tale of the Champion, of the destruction of Kirkwall's chantry. Anders is superimposed on top of it.]

 pp. 76 _The Champion's Tale_

helped both refugees and poverty-stricken residents alike, all while remaining hidden from the city's templars. It is hard to reconcile the image of the healer with the man that brought Kirkwall to its knees. He did not work alone, however. Both celebrated and reviled, Hawke – of refugee origin themselves and later (and more famously) the Champion of the most powerful city state in the Free Marches – offered aid to the ex-Warden, and the two continued a reportedly tenuous friendship even after their debts to one another had been paid. It is unclear whether Anders would have ever come to his final decision if his path had ever crossed with Hawke's.

If the Warden company Anders once belonged to ever heard of his exploits, they chose to look the other way. Reaching out to Amaranthine where they were last known to be stationed yielded only shut doors and shuttered faces, with the exception of a single Warden bowman, who refused us his name and gave only a cryptic answer to my questions: _always impossible_.

 […]

 pp. 257 _Chapter Ten: The Maker Yet Notices The Smallest Deeds_

 “She came stumbling out of the Fade like – you'd know if you'd been there. With all that'd happened and the light behind her? Impossible to think she was anything _but_ the Herald.

 “Yes, I still believe. Don't matter if she's a mage or not. She could be _anything_ : elf, dwarf, human – she could have walked out six foot tall with broken horns and she'd still be the Herald. Cryin' shame, what happened at Haven, but none other could have pulled us out of it. You know she stopped the war, and all?”

 The author interjects at this point to remind this soldier that the mage-templar war was ended not just because of the Inquisitor's influence but likely many other extraneous factors, but he refuses to listen.

 “A mage started it and a mage stopped it. Maybe they ain't all bad. Maker knows some of 'em are assholes, but what man ain't?”


End file.
